Highest-Paid Football Managers in 2026-27: Full Salary Breakdown
Simone Inzaghi tops the 2026-27 list on an estimated $30m a year at Al Hilal, ahead of Simeone and Arteta. Full table, Premier League pay, bonuses and pay-offs.
The highest-paid football manager in the world in the 2026-27 season is Simone Inzaghi, on an estimated $30 million a year at Al Hilal. Diego Simeone at Atlético Madrid ($27m) and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal ($20m) complete the top three in The National’s August 2026 ranking, which is built on Salary Leaks data and press reports. Arteta then signed a new contract to 2030 on 7 October, and its terms were not published.
Treat every number below as an estimate. No club publishes a manager’s contract, and the same man can appear in two respectable lists with figures several million apart. The tables say whose estimate each figure is; the second half of the article explains why they disagree.
The top 10 by salary (October 2026)
| Rank | Manager | Club / team | Estimated pay per year | Whose estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simone Inzaghi | Al Hilal | $30m | The National |
| 2 | Diego Simeone | Atlético Madrid | $27m | The National |
| 3 | Mikel Arteta | Arsenal | $20m | The National |
| 4 | Oliver Glasner | Nottingham Forest | $17.5m | The National |
| 4 | Xabi Alonso | Chelsea | $17.5m | The National |
| 6 | Enzo Maresca | Manchester City | $16m | The National |
| 6 | Roberto De Zerbi | Tottenham | $16m | The National |
| 8 | José Mourinho | Real Madrid | $14m | The National |
| 8 | Luis Enrique | Paris Saint-Germain | $14m; about €20m gross on his new deal | The National; L’Équipe |
| 10 | Ange Postecoglou | Al Nassr | $13.5m | The National |
The order follows The National’s ranking, and managers on the same pay share a place. Ancelotti, Iraola and Emery are not in that ranking: their figures come from other sources and are in the tables further down.
Two contracts signed after that ranking will move it. Luis Enrique extended his PSG deal to 2030 in early September, and L’Équipe had reported the new terms at around €20m gross a year. Infomercato, citing the Spanish press, put his previous pay at about €12m. On L’Équipe’s own April figures, only Simeone (€29.8m), Inzaghi (€25.1m) and Pep Guardiola (€23.8m) were above that level, and Guardiola has since left Manchester City. Arteta’s extension, announced on 7 October after he won the Premier League title, will push his number up too. By how much is not public.
Who moved: the summer that rewrote the list
Six of the top ten changed jobs in 2026, which is why lists from last season are already out of date.
- Pep Guardiola left Manchester City at the end of 2025-26 after ten years. Enzo Maresca was appointed on 29 June on a three-year deal to 2029.
- José Mourinho returned to Real Madrid from Benfica on a contract to June 2029. Madrid paid Benfica €15m to release him, AFP reported.
- Xabi Alonso took over at Chelsea, and Oliver Glasner moved from Crystal Palace to Nottingham Forest.
- Arne Slot was dismissed by Liverpool on 30 May. Andoni Iraola arrived from Bournemouth on 4 June.
- Newcastle replaced Eddie Howe, who stepped down on 31 July, with Matthias Jaissle and agreed to pay Al Ahli £9.5m in compensation, according to Sky Sports.
- Ange Postecoglou became head coach of Saudi champions Al Nassr.
The two men at the top stayed put: Inzaghi has been at Al Hilal since 2025, and Simeone is still at Atlético. In England, Sky Sports counted nine Premier League clubs starting 2026-27 with a new manager, the most in an English top-flight season since 1946-47.
Premier League managers’ salaries
| Manager | Club | Salary Leaks | The National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mikel Arteta | Arsenal | £15m | $20m |
| Oliver Glasner | Nottingham Forest | £11.5m | $17.5m |
| Xabi Alonso | Chelsea | £11.5m | $17.5m |
| Enzo Maresca | Manchester City | £10m + up to £2m bonuses | $16m |
| Roberto De Zerbi | Tottenham | £8m + up to £4m bonuses | $16m |
| Andoni Iraola | Liverpool | £8m | – |
| Unai Emery | Aston Villa | £8m | – |
| Matthias Jaissle | Newcastle | £6m | – |
| David Moyes | Everton | £5m | – |
Arteta is the league’s best-paid manager in both sources, and the only one of the league’s five best-paid managers who started last season at the same club. Salary Leaks lists his £15m as basic pay, but the BBC put his pay before the new deal at £10m a year plus £5m in bonuses, so the £15m looks like the full package rather than the basic wage. Set that figure against the players in Arsenal’s squad wage structure.
The De Zerbi line shows why sources clash. Salary Leaks, citing The Times, puts his basic salary at £8m with up to £4m more in bonuses. A list that counts bonuses and one that does not will never agree.
Guardiola’s exit also removed the league’s most expensive manager. Maresca arrives on a lower reported package, inheriting a squad whose wage bill we break down here.
National team managers after the 2026 World Cup
| Coach | Team | Contract runs to | Reported pay | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlo Ancelotti | Brazil | 2030 World Cup | €10m net a year | Globo, via Marca (2025) |
| Thomas Tuchel | England | Euro 2028 | £5.06m a year | Salary Leaks |
| Mauricio Pochettino | USA | 2030 World Cup | Just over $5m for his first seven months | US Soccer tax return |
| Jürgen Klopp | Germany | 2030 | About €7m a year | Bild (October 2026) |
| Zinedine Zidane | France | 2030 | €3.6m gross a year, up to €5.4m with bonuses | RMC Sport |
International jobs pay less than the top club jobs. A federation pays for a few international windows a year and a summer tournament, not a full club season of week-to-week work.
Two of the five teams, France and Germany, changed coach after the tournament. Team by team:
- Brazil went out to Norway in the round of 16. The CBF had already extended Ancelotti’s contract to 2030 in May and kept him. His original deal included a €5m bonus for winning the tournament, as SI reported, which was never triggered.
- France lost their semi-final to Spain, and Didier Deschamps stepped down. Zidane was appointed on 28 July on a four-year deal. RMC Sport reported his basic pay at €300,000 gross a month, in line with the roughly €3.8m a year Deschamps earned, rising to €450,000 a month with bonuses.
- USA lost 4-1 to Belgium in the round of 16, and Pochettino signed on through the 2030 World Cup in August. The US is the rare case with a hard number: US Soccer’s tax return showed he received $5,016,917 in his first seven months, including a $2.5m bonus.
- Germany went out to Paraguay on penalties in the round of 32, and Julian Nagelsmann stepped down. Jürgen Klopp was appointed on 24 July on a deal to 2030. Bild puts his pay at about €7m a year.
- England had extended before the tournament: the FA extended Tuchel’s contract to Euro 2028 in February 2026.
Bonuses, buy-outs and pay-offs
Bonuses. Club bonuses are usually tied to trophies, qualification and league position, as in the Maresca and De Zerbi packages above. In international football they often hang on a single tournament, which is how Ancelotti’s €5m disappeared in one round-of-16 defeat.
Buy-outs. Hiring a manager who is under contract means paying his club. Real Madrid paid Benfica €15m for Mourinho, and Newcastle agreed to pay Al Ahli £9.5m for Jaissle. Neither fee appears in a salary table, but both are part of the price.
Pay-offs. Sacking a manager usually means settling the rest of his contract, and the staff he brought with him. Manchester United’s accounts give the clearest example: £16.7m to Ruben Amorim and his staff after his dismissal in January 2026, following £10.4m to Erik ten Hag and his staff in the 2024-25 season. In the US, the same tax return showed Gregg Berhalter received $750,833 in severance.
Why every figure is an estimate
Four things make manager pay hard to pin down.
- Contracts are private. Clubs and most federations do not publish them. Figures come from reporters’ sources, agents and leaks.
- Gross or net. Some outlets quote pay before tax, others after it. Ancelotti’s €10m is a net figure, while Zidane’s €3.6m and L’Équipe’s €20m for Luis Enrique are gross. You cannot compare the two directly.
- Basic pay or the full package. The De Zerbi example above: £8m or £12m, depending on whether bonuses are counted.
- Currency and timing. The National works in dollars, L’Équipe in euros, Salary Leaks in pounds for English clubs. Exchange rates move, and so do contracts.
Simeone shows the effect: Salary Leaks puts him at €23.5m, The National at $27m and L’Équipe at €29.8m. Three serious estimates of one contract, none of them confirmed.
The hard numbers come from filings: US Soccer’s tax return, or the quarterly reports Manchester United publish. Everything else in this article is informed reporting. For a sense of scale, even the best-paid manager earns less than the top players: compare Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr contract, or see what footballers get paid at every level of the game.
FAQ
Who is the highest-paid football manager in the world?
Simone Inzaghi of Al Hilal, on an estimated $30m a year in The National’s August 2026 ranking. L’Équipe’s April 2026 figures put Diego Simeone ahead, at €29.8m against Inzaghi’s €25.1m, so first place depends on whose estimate you use.
Who is the highest-paid Premier League manager?
Mikel Arteta. Salary Leaks puts him at £15m a year and The National at $20m. Both figures predate the new Arsenal contract to 2030 he signed on 7 October 2026, which the BBC described as a sharp pay rise.
Who is the highest-paid national team manager?
Carlo Ancelotti with Brazil, reported at €10m net a year when he took the job in 2025. The CBF extended his contract to the 2030 World Cup in May 2026 and kept him after Brazil’s round-of-16 exit. Bild’s October 2026 ranking still has him first, ahead of Germany’s Jürgen Klopp on about €7m.
How much does the England manager earn?
Thomas Tuchel is estimated at £5.06m a year by Salary Leaks and at about €6m by Bild. The FA has not published the figure. His contract runs to Euro 2028.
Do football managers get paid when they are sacked?
Usually, yes. The rest of the contract is settled, often for the backroom staff too. Manchester United paid £16.7m to Ruben Amorim and his staff after dismissing him in January 2026.
